Process of dehydrating oil.



F. W. McNEAR & P. E. BOWLES, In.

PROCESS OF DEHYDRATlNG OIL. AFPLICATION man JUNE 26. 1915.

Patented 00t.26,19115.

A TTOR NE will i y l FRED W. MGNEAB, OF MENLO PARK, AND PHILIP E. BOWLES, JR, F REWARD,

CALIFORNIA.

rnocnss or name on.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pmbgnttedl UM]. 26, llwllfi.

Application filed June 2%, 1915. Serial Ito. 36,514.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED W. MoNnAn and PHILIP E. Bownns, Jr., citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Menlo Park, in the county State of California, and at Reward, in the county of Kern and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Dehydrating Oil, of which i provide the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to an improved process of separating water and oil from emulsions thereof, especially those which come from oil wells.

In the accompanying drawing, the figure is a vertical sectional view of an apparatus for practising our improved process, certain parts being shown in side elevation.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the metallic wall of aseparating chamber, preferably cylindrical,.and having an open top 2 and bottom 3. Secured to and extending inwardly from said wall 1 are a vertical series of annular metallic disks 4. Extending centrally through said chamber is a vertical metallic rod 6, the'upper and lower ends of which are received in insulators 7, '8, the lower insulator 7 'being supported in the bottom of the separating chamber, and the upper tube extending through the top of said chamber and being supported by a spider 5. Secured to said rod are metallic ks 9, each disk 9 extending between, and equidistant from, a pair of adjacent disks 4. A supply pipe 10 conducts the emulsion into the top of the separating chamber, and from the bottom of said separator a pipe 11 leads to a mediate portion of a vertical side of than the entrance of the pipe .11 into the V settling tank, while a pipe 14: leads from a point near the top of said settling tank.

16 indicates an alternating current generator, the poles of which are connected by wires 17 18 with the rod 6 and wall 1 of the separating chamber. A rheostat 19, voltmeter 21, ammeter 22 and switch 23 are provided in thecircuit. The generator and the resistance of the rheostat are such that of San Mateo and.

. out by the pipe intervening oil when .is still further reduced, the current of electhere is a diflerence of potential between the rod 19 and the wall 1 of approximately 6,600 volts, this voltage being desirable when the distance between the disks 4: and the disk 9 is five inches. Valves- 24, 26, 27, 28 are provided in the pipes 10, 11, 13 and 14 respectively.

In the preferred way of practising our improved process, the emulsion flows continuously through the separating chamber, and 11 into the settling tank, where the water settles from the oil, and flows out by the pipe-13, while the oil flows out by the pipe 14. The emulsion may also be treated while at rest in the separatin chamber, the valve 26 being first closed. Aiter treatment, this valve is opened and the -mixture is allowed to flow into the settling chamber.

With each alternation of the electric current, lines of electro-motive force diverge from each edge of the electrodes alternately toward the opposite electrodes. These lines of electro-motive force produce polarization of the intervening minute water globules, so that they tend to approach each other, and the oil intervening between said globules thus becomes thinner. The resistance of the being very great, as compared with the resistance of the water globules, the electric current, which flows along the paths of least resistance, flows where the intervening Walls of oil are the thinnest, thus increasing the polarization of the globules along said path of least resistance, which still further reduces said resistance, so that the current of electricity is concentrated along that path in an accelerating ratio. The intervening walls of oil become so thin that the electro-motive force finally disrupts one or more of said -walls, and,

this takes place, so that the resistance trioity flowing along said path increases very rapidly until the whole series of Walls along the path of least resistance has been broken down. The resistance of said path has now b d d to o much lower than that by other paths between the electrodes that a very large current flows through said path,

' steam, the .water wavy motion is J steam as large fee - then diverted to the pointer in fact moving from almost zero water into steam,

respectively for with the immediate evolution of heat Suficient to convert some or all of the water in said path of least resistance into steam, whic being a non-conductor, immediately breaks the short circuit along said path between the electrodes, and electric current is other paths of low resistance. The intervening walls of oil between the-water globules having been broken down, and some or all of the-water in the path of least resistance having been converted, into in said path is now free from admixture with the oil, and will condense in a comparatively large globule and sink through the emulsion.

It is to be remembered that the above-described process takes place very rapidly in successive paths between the electrodes, so that continual evolution and condensation of steam takes lace. 7

During the a ove process a billowing or observed upon the surface of the liquid and occasionally bubbles of as one-half of an inch in diameter rise to the'surface and escape thereat.

he ammeter varies extremely in its reading, instantaneously to beyond the extreme of the indicator, showthat', just before the conversion of the an extremely large current flows between short-circuited electrodes. In an observed case, the temperature of the emulsion before treatment was; 156, and after separation, that of the ooil,about of-the emulsion, -was 151 and of the water 162, showing that, of the energy of the electric' current, very little was converted into heat by electrical resistance, but that most of the energy was absorbed in generating heat to create steam which heat was afterward given up, in a sensible form, to'the water. i

We are aware that Patents Nos. 987,115, 987,116 and 987,117 have been issued to F. G. Cottrell and J. B. Speed and A. C; Wright inventions, the object of which was to separate oil and water from an emulsion of the same by an alternating current of high potential, and we have put said inventions into practice, so far as they could be used. We have found that the inventions described in Patents Nos. 987,115 and 987,116,. in which the electrodes were both stationary, y ineffectual,

range (60 amperes) s were absolutel no useful results whatsoever being obtained therefrom. The invention disclosed in Patout No. 987,117, in which one of the elec trodes. was caused to revolve within the other electrode, gave results which were useful, but much inferior to those obtained by our invention. With an apparatus of about one half the size of one constructed in accordance with Patent No. 987,117, the emulsion can be dehydrated twice as rapidly, with a curof only 6,600 volts instead of 10,000 yolts, and with far greater efiiciency, since 1n the former case it was impossible to recuiting between the electrodes, and indeed their inventions consisted wholly in the prevention of sh ort circuiting. We have discovered that far better results are obtained by relying, not upon electro-motive force, but upon heat as an agency to produce coalescence between the water globules, this heat being produced by the passage of the very large electric current which is produced by short circuiting, the amount of heat being such as toconvert water globules in the path of the current into steam and by said converlslion breaking the electric current in said pat As showing the difference between our improved process and those above referred to it may be stated that the Cottrell apparatus is very susceptible to a change of temperature, the apparatus being so affected by a change of temperature of ten degrees, that it will no longer work properly. Our process will continue to operate successfully at any ordinary temperatures. Furthermore, in using the Gottrell apparatus of Patent N 0. 987,117 it is necessary to first fill the separatlng chamber with clean oil, freed from admixture with Water, and to then introduce the emulsion gradually. If the Cottrell apparatus is started on an emulsion, the result will be that so great a load will be placed upon the generator that the safety devices, such as fuses, will be destroyed. On the other hand, our separating chamber can be filled with emulsion, or as it is termed, green oil, and work'can be commenced immediately thereon.

We claim 1. The process of separating oil and water from an emulsion of the same which consists in passing in the same path therethrough an alternating current of sutficiently high potential and for a sufiicient length of time to completely short circuit the electrodes by means of water globules and genthe heat produced by said In testimony whereof w e have hereuntoset our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED W. McNEAR. PHILIP E. BOWLES, JR.

Witnesses to the signature of F. W. Mo.

Near:

C. W. KIRBY, F. M. WRIGHT. Witnesses to the signature of P. E. Bow1es,Jr.: a

LESS CLOTFELTER,

L. MERRIAM. 

